Nilda Iris Quijano Peña
Nilda Iris Quijano Peña was born in a very humble neighborhood in the city of Colon. She attended Abel Bravo High School and soon showed leadership qualities when she instituted a program to prepare students who needed academic support. After high school she studied engineering at the Panama University. In 1977, after a year and a half, at the age of 19 she migrated to the Soviet Union on scholarship with the International Student Union. Ms Quijano left Panama not knowing a word of Russian and with only one dollar on her person. After two years in the Soviet Union she returned to Panama for personal reason without having completed her studies. Upon her return to Panama she began working as a secretary in the Colon Free Zone for International Ciers-Zona Libre. She resumed her academic pursuit initiating in a masters degree program without having completed her bachelor’s degree. She completed post graduate studies in Mediation of the Worker’s Foundation at the Panama University along with a Masters degree in Maritime Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with high honors. She is presently the General Manager of the Colon Free Zone. In the civic arena she is a member of the Rotary Club and past president of the APEDE*-Colon Chapter. She speaks English, Russian and Spanish. She considers every difficulty that she has faced enriched her in some way and the example of her father and her strong faith in God are the most important pillars in her life.
* Asociación Panameña de Ejecutivos de Empresa (Spanish: Panamanian Association of Business Executives, Panama)
See Global Economies' interview with Nilda
Earl P. Watson